METUCHEN, N.J. – A third team has been added to the East Conference of United Women’s Soccer for the 2021 season, the league announced Thursday.

The Connecticut Rush will be the second team associated with Rush Soccer – an international sports organization focused on the development of soccer players – and Northeast Rush to join the UWS East this month as an Albany, New York-based team was announced Jan. 5.

Based out of the Greater New Haven area, the Rush will also serve as the second UWS team from the Nutmeg State alongside the Connecticut Fusion, based out of the Greater Hartford area.

“We are excited to expand the East Conference of United Women’s Soccer with a second Connecticut team,” UWS commissioner Joe Ferrara, Jr. said in a statement. “I personally know members of the coaching staff. So, the on the field product will be highly competitive. Off the field, the business plan provided by the organization checks all the boxes that we look for in UWS.”

Added Connecticut Rush general manager Ed Greene: “We are so excited to be building the next step in our player pathway for girl’s and women’s soccer in Connecticut. UWS has proven to be the best women’s league in the country for players looking to continue to grow as players during their college years and for those that have aspirations to play professionally. Having a First Team will not only be great for our Connecticut Rush club, but it will also directly benefit our younger players to have role models to look up to and emulate.”

Connecticut Rush East launched its programming in 2012 with a skills clinic in Guilford, Conn. Since then, the program has gorwn in the surrounding communities and has a comprehensive youth program with eight branches and 22 teams based out of North Branford, Conn.

The UWS team will be led by Brendan Faherty, Megan Burke and Sarah Tompkins. Faherty has more than 20 years of experience combined at the college and club level coaching on the women’s side, and holds a USSF A License and a UEFA B License. Burke and Tompkins are assistant coaches at Fairfield University and Quinnipiac University, respectively.

Faherty, a former Stony Brook University women’s coach, left Yale University in November 2019 after sexual misconduct allegations.

The Connecticut Rush women’s program will train at the Connecticut Sportsplex in North Branford, Conn. It is New England’s largest sports complex with an outdoor softball field complex, 75,000 square-foot indoor dome with multi-sports fields plus a fieldhouse with indoor giant playscape, batting cages, laser-tag, arcade, virtual golf, pool table, air hockey, basketball courts and restaurant.

Team tryouts will be announced at a later date.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.